Mind Drifts, Data Shifts: Utilizing Mind Wandering to Track the Evolution of User Experience with Data Visualizations

User experience in data visualization is typically assessed through post-viewing self-reports, but these overlook the dynamic cognitive processes during interaction. This study explores the use of mind wandering- a phenomenon where attention spontaneously shifts from a primary task to internal, task-related thoughts or unrelated distractions- as a dynamic measure during visualization exploration. Participants reported mind wandering while viewing visualizations from a pre-labeled visualization database and then provided quantitative ratings of trust, engagement, and design quality, along with qualitative descriptions and short-term/long-term recall assessments. Results show that mind wandering negatively affects short-term visualization recall and various post-viewing measures, particularly for visualizations with little text annotation. Further, the type of mind wandering impacts engagement and emotional response. Mind wandering also functions as an intermediate process linking visualization design elements to post-viewing measures, influencing how viewers engage with and interpret visual information over time. Overall, this research underscores the importance of incorporating mind wandering as a dynamic measure in visualization design and evaluation, offering novel avenues for enhancing user engagement and comprehension.